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Eight cat facts to give you paws for thought

Cats have been central to human life for a long time.

Over the centuries we’ve painted them, petted them, worshipped them, and even feared them. But how did these furry felines come to be our cosseted companions?

Join host Ruth Goodman and delve into the history of cats in The Curious History of Your ±«Óãtv.

Find out more about Cats, by listening to The Curious History of Your ±«Óãtv on ±«Óãtv Sounds!

1. Killing a cat in Ancient Egypt was not a good idea.

In Bubastis, a city dedicated to the cat headed Egyptian goddess Bastet, a Roman was hanged for this very crime. He was part of a delegation to negotiate a treaty of friendship with the Pharaoh Ptolemy XII. An angry mob chased and hanged the man from a tree – and not even the Pharaoh, who valued his alliance with Rome, could stop them.

Cat sitting on a sofa / Getty Images

2. Cats have lived alongside humans for thousands of years.

As early agriculture developed, the grain stores attracted mice, which in turn attracted wild felines. The cats who were most able to tolerate people thrived in these new communities. In 2004, archaeologists in Cyprus found a 9,500-year-old burial of an adult human and their cat.

3. Cats appeared in Egyptian art as early as 1980 BC.

Everyday scenes in tomb paintings show them in typical cat poses. Some early “influencers” wore jewellery featuring felines, while some even dressed their cats in gold and let them eat off their plates.

4. Cats have been linked to the devil.

Not everyone throughout history agreed that they were merely cute pets. The 12th century writer Walter Mapp told of the devil appearing to his disciples in the form of a black cat whose rear end they were required to kiss. (It is unclear how serious Mapp was here.) In 1324, a woman called Alice Kittler was accused of possessing an incubus, or male demon, who took the form of a black cat. And in 1484, Pope Innocent VIII even described cats as the devil's favourite animal. Over the centuries, they became a common feature of witchcraft trials.

5. Keeping pets became more widespread in the West by the 19th century.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “pet" started to be used for animals in the 16th century. But cats were mostly working animals back then. There was a shift in attitudes during the 1800s – which we can tell because people began to buy food for their cats in the form of boiled horse meat. In 1851, the journalist Henry Mayhew estimated there were about 300,000 pet cats in London.

Cat walking across a garden wall / Getty Images

6. The first known “cat lady” lived in Islington.

Henry Mayhew wrote of a “mad woman” who had “had as many as 30 cats at times in her house” and that “the stench was so great that she was obliged to be ejected”.

7. Owning a cat has mental health benefits.

Studies have shown that cat owners are up to 30% less likely to experience heart disease, while stroking a cat has been found to reduce stress.

8. The first YouTube cat video was uploaded in 2005.

This was done by YouTube’s co-founder Steve Chen. We can all agree this was a very good use for the world’s first video streaming platform.

To find out more about the history of gardening, washing up, or coffee, listen to The Curious History of Your ±«Óãtv on ±«Óãtv Sounds!